Looking Back While Looking Ahead

“I am grateful for all that this year has given me, including the lessons it has given to my soul. This year I will be kinder and more compassionate to myself and to all beings. I will stop being so hard on me.I will laugh more. I will unplug more. I will shift into my heart more.I will make the time to connect to the Divine and feed my spirit. I will let go of the small stuff. I will surround myself with uplifting people and activities. This is my truth and so it is. Amen.” ― Eileen Anglin

Oh, the title of my story today sounds like I am multitasking. It has been pointed out to me that I am NOT good at doing more than one thing at a time. I am painfully aware this is true. Even with that knowledge, I continue to do so.

In June of this coming year, I will celebrate my third year of retirement. I’m not sure how that is possible, but it is true.

For those of you retiring in 2018, prepare yourself mentally. I was unprepared. It took me until this year to feel okay with myself and realize I needed to find a way to learn and grow. The hard part of this was, to do what I knew I MUST do, I needed to let go of the fear of failure.

As I hit the publish button on my first story, I was petrified. I’d proofed, re-read and re-written every single line several times. I finally listened to that little voice in my head. She said that there was no reason to be afraid. Those who loved me would read with love and stay with me as I learned and grew as a person and as a writer.

As 2017 comes to a close, I urge you to take risks this coming year. Be brave and confident in yourself and in those who love you. Those calendar pages will continue to fly off the wall. Please do not wait. Take a deep breath, listen, then believe what your soul is urging you to do–and do it.

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.